Development banks to deliver $51bn annual climate finance

Two of the world's largest development banks have unveiled separate commitments to boost climate-related financing by up to a third.

The World Bank and EIB could deliver a combined $51bn climate finance under their new commitments

The World Bank announced over the weekend that it would boost funding for poorer nations coping with climate change from 21% to 28% of its budget, while the European Investment Bank (EIB) will increase its climate support from 25% to 35%.

"The World Bank Group stands ready to scale up its support to meet increasing demand from countries," said World Bank president Jim Yon Kim. He said that the World Bank's new commitment would mean the bank lending up to $29bn a year to climate-vulnerable countries.

However, Kim added that individual nations must also be willing to ramp up their financing efforts in Paris.

"Political will for urgent action is critical,” he said. “We believe there are politically credible pathways to deliver $100bn a year in climate financing for developing countries by 2020”.

"If world leaders do not find a path to low-carbon growth that will keep global warming below an increase of two degrees Celsius, there is little hope of ending extreme poverty — and even more broadly, there is little hope of preserving the Earth as we know it for our children and grandchildren," said Kim.

At COP15 in Copenhagen, developed countries committed to a goal of jointly mobilizing $100bn a year by 2020. However, one of the key talking points at Paris will be where this money should come from.

European effort

The EIB has also stepped up its effort on this front by announcing its new 35% target which it says will provide more than $110bn for climate action projects around the world over the next five years – around $22bn a year.

The funding will be targeted at countries identified by the UNFCCC and the OECD as being especially vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change.

EIB president Werner Hoyer said: “Our new climate strategy focuses on enhancing the impact of climate funding, increasing financing for adaptation to climate change, unlocking new support from private capital, and ensuring that every project we help finance minimises emissions and is as resilient as possible to climatic uncertainties.”

The announcement comes weeks after the EIB adopted a new strategy to guide its climate lending around the world.